The Rohr Foundation has announced a matching grant to help respond to the dire financial difficulties that Jewish communities throughout Ukraine are facing. The foundation will match up to $200,000 in donations to the Ukraine Jewish Relief Fund, an emergency fund that has been created under the auspices of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the Former Soviet Union and Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch, the educational arm of Chabad-Lubavitch, to help pay for additional security, as well as keep regular activities at Chabad centers going.

“Our community and Jewish communities around Ukraine are struggling financially,” says Rabbi Moshe Moskowitz, chief rabbi and Chabad representative in the eastern city of Kharkov. “At this point, the economic situation is what we’re most worried about. Banks are only allowing hryvna withdrawals, and only in limited amounts. Many donors are worried now, and therefore have stopped their regular donations. Our financial position is grave.”

More than 170 Chabad emissary couples serve the Ukrainian Jewish population—estimated at between 350,000 to 500,000—in 32 cities and surrounding communities around the embattled country.